Third Coast In The News

Women's health center construction begins Editorial, The Grand Rapids Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 24, 2006

One of the major components of redevelopment near the Michigan Street health hill is set to get under way today as ground is broken on the $23 million Women's Health Center of West Michigan.

The four-story building, which will overlook Int. 196 east of College Avenue NE, anchors MidTowne Village, a mixed-use, medically oriented redevelopment of what had been several blocks of housing.

The Women's Health Center will include 100,000 square feet of space for practices and related businesses dedicated to women's health.

Dr. Adam Blickley is an investor in the center. He is among 24 mostly suburban physicians already committed to relocating his practice.

"In breaking ground for the Women's Health Center of West Michigan, we raise the profile of women's health and put Grand Rapids on the map regionally, even nationally," he said.

The doctors sought approval for a surgical center at the women's health building, but the state denied the request.

A urogynecology center at the building will be unique to West Michigan, providing services many patients travel to Ann Arbor or elsewhere to receive, Blickley said.

Among medical services planned for the center are primary and high-risk obstetrics, infertility services and reproductive endocrinology, psychiatry, physical therapy and lactation consulting.
The center also plans to offer mammography, bone-density screening, aesthetic spa services such as microdermabrasion and Botox, and a full-service pharmacy.

The location also will make it easier for physicians to participate in research and education initiatives at Spectrum Butterworth hospital and the Van Andel Research Institute.

Developers Dave Levitt and Brad Rosely bought the residences at the MidTowne site three years ago and tore them down.

Long-term plans remain largely the same as Rosely and Levitt originally envisioned, a walkable mix of housing, offices and retail space with a central park with sidewalks.

"Part of the attraction of this site is the greenspace, the mixed use of it," Blickley said. "We're hoping to have a little suburban park downtown as part of what attracts women to our facility."

Levitt and Rosely are developing a retail and office building fronting Michigan Street. They sold the easternmost portion of the site to Kegle Construction Co., which plans to develop the 28-unit, four-story Park Row Condominiums.

Pinnacle Construction Group of Grand Rapids is developer and builder of Women's Health Center.

Send e-mail to the author: cknape@grpress.com